MG4 Trophy + Ohme Home Pro + Intelligent Octopus

[ukslim]

(Not sure whether the fact it's an MG4 is relevant, but it asks you to plug the car in while it tests, so maybe...)

I bought an Ohme Home Pro charger from Octopus themselves, specifically so I could have Intelligent Octopus.

Then I got a standard Octopus account and am currently on the Flexible tariff. As I understand it you do that, then switch tariff in the app.

I went through the setup in the app, authorised Octopus to use my Ohme account. All seems to have worked, and the Ohme app says I'm with Intelligent Octopus and stuff is greyed out because of it -- to Octopus has obviously successfully used an Ohme API to tell it.

Next step is the charge test. Plug the cable into the car. Car isn't fully charged. Tap "continue". App says it's testing and it should take under a minute. I left it for about half an hour, and it never succeeded.

Now the Octopus app says I'm still on the Flexible tariff, but in "devices" knows I have an Ohme (but has no setup options or way to repeat the test)
And the Ohme app says my tariff is Intelligent Octopus, and has "avoid peak charging" disabled because of it.

I see others are using Intelligent. Did it work smoothly for you? Are there any things you have to do to nudge it?

Octopus haven't answered an email since I got the account, either , except an automated one (a week ago) saying "don't worry, we're busy, but we got your question and we'll get to you".

 

[ukslim]

you need one ACTIVE schedule. But you need to amend it (before plugging the car in) to state when you need the car the next day, whether that is 6am or 9am or when exactly. You also need to tell it exactly what % of charge to add - so if it's a LR and at 25% and you want it to be at 80%, you tell it to ADD 55%. If it's a SR at 40% and you want it to charge to 100%, you tell it to ADD 60%.

Not doing that is unhelpful as it doesn't know whether you're adding 90% or 20% to the battery. You need to help it.

I don't think this is necessary, and it adds the hassle of going into the app every time, to tell it how much to put in depending on current charge state.

Hopefully one day Ohme and MG will get their act together so the car tells the charger current charge, and other stuff like estimated range.

But until then:
- give the charger a schedule that's more than enough for your regular charge (I say "add 80% by 7am")
- set the car's charge limit to what you want (typically 80% in an LR)

Normally the charger will aim for more than is needed, but that's fine. The car will stop taking it.

The only slight downside to this is that the charger might deliver the charge faster than it otherwise would (I think it sometimes switches down to lower current when it knows it has plenty of time -- for battery health reasons maybe?). But it means that, once you trust it, home charging is just a matter of plugging it in and leaving it to it.

 

[Museruk]

I have been told by Octopus that I do need a working Smart meter in order to benefit from the Go or other 'smart' Octopus tariffs.
Update on this is that our currently not-working Octopus Smart meter is hopefully going to get a 'hub' installed in order to overcome the now obvious issue that we are in a rubbish signal area for communication from the Smart Meter back to Octopus.
Apparently Octopus can fit one of these hubs in outlying areas to overcome this issue if the normal over the air connection proves to be unreliable.
Unfortunately however I have to wait until the first week of October for this to be installed - will keep you posted on the outcome when it is fitted!

 

[Blur]

Sorry, no, I mean the iSmart app, I set that to 80% charge and Ohme is just to 'full charge'

So this function is on the iSmart app to limit charging to 80%?
Great to hear, will be more than enough for daily commuting and I presume you can command from app to charge too 100% if going to longer trip next day.

 

[Deleted member 10041]

So this function is on the iSmart app to limit charging to 80%?
Great to hear, will be more than enough for daily commuting and I presume you can command from app to charge too 100% if going to longer trip next day.

Depends what version you have, sorry if you have said this elsewhere, do you have the SR or LR.

SR doesn't have that capability on the app

 

[Blur]

Depends what version you have, sorry if you have said this elsewhere, do you have the SR or LR.

SR doesn't have that capability on the app

LR (Luxury, EU Trophy) coming in November, so it's beneficial. SR ofc don't have the option as LFP chemistry likes 100%.

 

[NoSkill]

So this function is on the iSmart app to limit charging to 80%?
Great to hear, will be more than enough for daily commuting and I presume you can command from app to charge too 100% if going to longer trip next day.

Yeah, you can limit charging in 10% increments (so 90% for example if you felt so inclined)

However... I have found mine has a habit of 'forgetting' the setting and defaulting to 100%, so it's a habit now to check the app, don't always have to re-set it to 80% but 'most' of the time I'd say. Not sure if that's an app or car issue though...

 

[prospectivebuyer]

hi all, I hope you don’t mind me jumping in on this thread.

I’ve just ordered my mg5 which I am picking up next week. I am currently on British Gas and my switch to octopus will be complete tomorrow. Ohme home charger install booked with sparky for week after next.

Is it simple to get onto Intelliegent octopus? I’ve checked postcode and all is fine in my area so I will be applying for that tariff as soon as my switch from British Gas is completed tommorrow. Is there anything else I need to be aware of? Will octopus send out a little smart meter display for me?

 

[Deleted member 10041]

hi all, I hope you don’t mind me jumping in on this thread.

I’ve just ordered my mg5 which I am picking up next week. I am currently on British Gas and my switch to octopus will be complete tomorrow. Ohme home charger install booked with sparky for week after next.

Is it simple to get onto Intelliegent octopus? I’ve checked postcode and all is fine in my area so I will be applying for that tariff as soon as my switch from British Gas is completed tommorrow. Is there anything else I need to be aware of? Will octopus send out a little smart meter display for me?

If you don't have a smart meter you will need that first before you can switch to IO

 

[prospectivebuyer]

If you don't have a smart meter you will need that first before you can switch to IO

I have a smart meter but I’m talking about the little digital display (currently a British Gas one)

 

[Koomi]

I have a smart meter but I’m talking about the little digital display (currently a British Gas one)

You won't get a new In Home Display, the BG one will carry on working with your meter and show what it needs to.

My switch to IO was painless, and did it within hours of the Ohme charger being fitted (already had the car)
Follow the questions, say you have an Ohme Charger and an MG4, and it will ask you to plug the car in for a test charge (so make sure you are not at 100%)
Once that goes through, your electric supply should be swapped to IO within the day, if not within hours.

Set the car to charge to 80% in iSmart (or more if long journey planned, or a monthly balancing charge)
Set the Ohme to charge a few % more than you need, and when you need it by... so if sitting at 33%, set Ohme to a 50% charge to get to the 80% target... and it will talk to Octopus to work out the best times to supply the required juice to get you there before your cut-off.
I've had it start charging 18:30-19:00 on a weekday, and it still only charge the 7.5p

Setting Ohme to always need 100% would also work, but it wouldn't make the best use of the intelligent system to get you the charge you need when the grid demand is lowest

 

[ukslim]

Set the car to charge to 80% in iSmart (or more if long journey planned, or a monthly balancing charge)
Set the Ohme to charge a few % more than you need, and when you need it by... so if sitting at 33%, set Ohme to a 50% charge to get to the 80% target... and it will talk to Octopus to work out the best times to supply the required juice to get you there before your cut-off.
I've had it start charging 18:30-19:00 on a weekday, and it still only charge the 7.5p

Setting Ohme to always need 100% would also work, but it wouldn't make the best use of the intelligent system to get you the charge you need when the grid demand is lowest

Agree, but to avoid hassle, I'm comfortable with just leaving the Ohme with a "Add 80% by 7am" schedule all the time -- if I came home with less than 20% I might consider upping it, but that's rare. This always charges entirely at cheap rate, and of course it stops when the car stops accepting.

I suppose if the Ohme knows you need less - "Hey great, I've got 14 hours in which to add 14kWh" it can charge more slowly or pick times when there's loads of surplus energy, but I think I'm willing to do without that marginal gain, for the convenience of "just plug in and forget about it until the morning".

If you don't have a working smart meter home display, you could add yourself to the waitlist for an Octopus Home Mini - Meet the Octopus Home Mini

It's a little box that you set up near your smart meter, allowing a phone app to see all that data.

 

[pomegran]

Great thread this!

I switched last week to IO with our MG4 - got the email saying we'd switched. Seems to be working all fine (last night it charged from 7.00pm until 9.30pm then 2.30am until 7am).

The Ohme app shows the cost correctly but I'm not entirely sure my smart meter does. Would you expect the smart meter to show the corrected cost per kWh as per the 7.5p?

 

[liput]

Great thread this!

I switched last week to IO with our MG4 - got the email saying we'd switched. Seems to be working all fine (last night it charged from 7.00pm until 9.30pm then 2.30am until 7am).

The Ohme app shows the cost correctly but I'm not entirely sure my smart meter does. Would you expect the smart meter to show the corrected cost per kWh as per the 7.5p?

Doubt the meter will. Best to use the octopus app or website

 

[pomegran]

The Octopus app says it does not support cost under this tariff. The Ohme app shows the cost though.

 

[mg4mc]

Home displays don't work with IO costs.

My charge tonight started as soon as I plugged in. I got most of the evening meal cooked on the 7.5p rate

 

[mg4mc]

The Ohme app shows the cost correctly but I'm not entirely sure my smart meter does. Would you expect the smart meter to show the corrected cost per kWh as per the 7.5p?

The Ohme app only shows the estimated cost correctly if the whole charge takes place between 11:30 and 05:30. It does understand the cheap rate outside the core hours.

 

[pomegran]

My Ohme app shows the price correctly. This is Ohme app showing the cost when the charge started at 7pm. As you can see, the price is adjusted for 7.5p.

Initially when the charge starts it is at the full price. It adjusted the following day.

 

[pomegran]

Home displays don't work with IO costs.

My charge tonight started as soon as I plugged in. I got most of the evening meal cooked on the 7.5p rate

Ah I wasn't sure about that. So when the Ohme app tells me the times outside of the 11.30-05.30 window, ALL electricity is at the cheap rate? Great if it is!

 

[mg4mc]

My Ohme app shows the price correctly. This is Ohme app showing the cost when the charge started at 7pm. As you can see, the price is adjusted for 7.5p.

Initially when the charge starts it is at the full price. It adjusted the following day.

That is what I meant to say, when you plug in the estimated cost is often wrong. When you look afterwards at the completed charges it is correct.

Ah I wasn't sure about that. So when the Ohme app tells me the times outside of the 11.30-05.30 window, ALL electricity is at the cheap rate? Great if it is!

Yep, whilst it is charging all your electricity is at 7.5p

 

[prospectivebuyer]

I’ve switched to IO and it’s showing in both OHME and Octopus apps. Every time I plug car in it seems to start charge straight away despite my schedule set to end at 05:30 each morning.
Example tonight I plugged in tonight at 5pm and it says at 9pm my charge will be complete (+100 miles). The Ohme app says estimated cost £9.95 which is obviously more expensive than 7.5pkwh. I’ve turned all price cap settings etc off and just have 1 schedule everyday to finish by 05:30. Is it really only charging me 7.5p/kWh for all this as it has happened multiple times this week?? I thought you’d only get the cheap smart charging once or twice in the month out of the normal overnight hours? Seems to be every time I plug it in ???
I’m tempted to enable the price cap “never charge over 7.5p/kWh” but this kinda defeats the whole point of the “intelligent” part. But I certainly will be if they have charged me full price for all these charges this week , when I get my next bill.